CHILDREN'S ELECTRONIC HANDASSISTANCE PROJECT

Welcome to the website of
the Children's Electronic Hand Assistance Project (CEHAP).

The purpose of CEHAP
is to provide you with information about the availability of prosthetic
fitting and prosthetic funding for children, who may be candidates for a
bionic arm or
electronic hand,
when there is inadequate insurance or none at all.

CEHAP also includes
programs and services that a) help parents decipher clauses in their health
insurance policies, b) meet other parents of children with limb differences,
c) maintain a strong advocacy initiative with third party payers that have
adopted a "culture of denial" and d) proactively engage in the appeal
process to the 3rd and 4th level, when necessary to establish the "medical
necessity" of prescribed prosthetic care.

Our goal is to help
you find answers to the questions and concerns you may have regarding upper
limb pediatric prostheses and your child's future with a congenital upper
limb difference or
acquired limb
loss.

As you may have already discovered, information specifically about upper extremity
artificial limbs can be difficult to locate. According to statistics from the U.S. Center for
Disease Control (CDC) and the National Limb Loss Information Center (NLLIC)
there are less than 300 children born in the United States each year with a
congenital upper limb difference, who may be candidates for an electronic
prosthesis.

In addition, of all
the people living in the United States that wear artificial limbs, only one
out of 30 is caused by an upper extremity traumatic amputation
or birth anomaly resulting in a congenital limb difference.

For these reasons,
we have developed this website to help you understand (a) the clinical steps
and procedures necessary to fit your child with an artificial electric hand
or myoelectric
arm prosthesis and (b) the best way to utilize insurance or find
prosthetic funding for children.